Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

TN Legislators Stop Men’s Room Sharia

This is rather amusing. The Tennessee state capitol building recently underwent a major renovation and one of the minor changes made was to replace a deep sink with a floor sink so it was easier to change mop water. But a couple of suspicious wingnuts thought it might be there for Muslims to wash their feet before daily prayers and they got right to the bottom of the mystery:

Senate Clerk Russell Humphrey said he had been approached by a House and Senate member to inquire about the sink, which replaced a utility sink that had been mounted higher on the wall and was used for filling and emptying buckets.

“There was concern about why it had been modified,” said Humphrey, who declined to identify the lawmakers or elaborate on their concerns.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to quote a member inaccurately about what they may or may not have said,” he said.

Republican Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, confirmed that he had spoken to Humphrey about whether there were religious reasons for the new sink after the issue was raised by Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma.

“I just asked the question about what was the intent of that,” Ketron said. “And it satisfied my curiosity after it was presented to me.”

The real story is that it was there for halal butchering and washing off their machetes after beheading infidels. And they would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for those pesky wingnuts.

Heaven forfend someone would wash their feet. Next thing you know, bolstered by clean feet, the Muslims would kick out the stinky footed (R) (or stomp all over them) and thus have Sharia trammel all over TN.

Wait until the TN legislators find out about ghusul!

Having seen the mop sink, I don’t think I would wash my feet there but it’s better than using the sinks set into the counters. I would support the inclusion of per stall ghusul spray hoses, however. Some y’all could use the help. just sayin’.

And these are the guys who used to say us college-educated liberals didn’t have any common sense?

I’ve seen the sinks they use to rinse mops and change cleaning-water, and I don’t care what the Koran says — there’s no way I’d ever put my feet into something that dirty. Did these pompous privileged twits even LOOK at the janitors’ sinks before this change was made?

A real ‘merican would throw out his back lifting heavy buckets and NOT go lookin fer no fancy-schmancy New York libraletists modern day sciency “sink” and certainly wouldn’t go bird-doggin around fer no ‘BamaCare to get some “medicine” to get his back fixed neither.

When I went to college in downtown Atlanta, the administration at one point took the doors off the men’s restroom stalls in a certain building.
They said it was because the gays were getting it on in them, but I bet it really was about preventing Muslims from washing their feet in the toilets and praying to their filthy Allah.

This is pretty pathetic, these clowns just see muslim accommodations everywhere. Although to be fair at least this particular clown was satisfied with the answer. Makes me wonder how far backwards Humphrey bent to express “Nonono, not Muslim! Not in Tennessee!!”

@4 Just looked up ghusul, sounds an awful lot like my OCD rituals except I don’t pray, I just mumble to myself. Hmm, wait a second…